Upside Down
by PrettyLittleAgent
Summary: A day in June changed her life forever... almost a decade later, she's still running, wondering who will be able to catch her when she falls.


**_This story has been bubbling in my head for weeks and I just had to get it out. Trust me when I say the rating is well deserved. If you aren't a fan of shows like Criminal Minds or NCIS or CSI then this probably won't be a story for you. It will be graphic and it will have dark subject matter. Updates will probably come slowly on this one, simply because I'm trying to make it as factual as possible. _**

**_The basis for this story, besides PLL, is Criminal Minds. The characters and team structure are similar, but not exact replicas._**

**_As always, PLL doesn't belong to me. _**

**_Scenes in italics are flashbacks.  
_**

* * *

August 12th, 2019

"...and that is why I will never be allowed back in Monterey, North Carolina" Alex Briggs looked across the table at his fellow teammates, basking in the stunned silence of them all. In his 30 year career as a FBI agent he had seen and done many things, but the Monterey story was one of his favorites to tell, and one that always left an impression on his colleges.

"How are you not in prison right now?" Addison James, better known as Addy, finally spoke, voicing a question most everyone else was thinking.

"Let's just say I'll be working here till I'm eighty and leave it at that" Briggs joked as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Oh, so that means you'll be gone in a year then" The snickers that broke out were only encouraged by the death glare Briggs sent across the rim of his mug to Sy Sidney, an agent as notorious for his smart mouth as he was for his skill in profiling.

The normal, lighthearted banter between the BAU agents continued as they waited for their Unit Chief to come in and brief them on the latest case. Normally this task would have fallen on Diana Foster, the team's Media Liaison, however she claimed no knowledge of the case, only saying that she had gone to Cope to see about getting the rest of the day off and he'd sadly turned her down, saying he had just accepted a case that would need all of their attention. Since then the team had been sitting around in the conference room, waiting for their boss to come in.

In his office, the said Unit Chief was debating whether taking this case was actually a good idea. Isaac Copeland was not one to second-guess his decision, but the fondness he had for one of his agents was causing him some doubt. As he shrugged on his suit jacket he came to the conclusion that the logical thing would be to send the agent in question home and then have the rest of the team handle the case from there, but he knew that wouldn't work. Small towns like the one they were heading to were notoriously hard to get a good read on, and any advantage they had would need to be utilized in order to catch this killer. He'd simply make sure he and Sy kept a close eye on things and if need be he'd intervene. Gathering up the tablets loaded with all the information the team needed he walked out of his office and down the short walkway to where his team was waiting. As he entered the room he noted once again how well this team seemed to fit together since their latest member joined almost two years ago.

"Rosewood, Pennsylvania" Cope started as he began to pass out the iPads, locking eyes briefly with his youngest agent as he passed them theirs. "Yesterday the body of 48 year-old Oscar Lyman was found in a freshly dug hole at the site of a new apartment community. He showed signs of blunt force trauma to the head but cause of death was suffocation. The coroner noted he also appeared to have been involved in recent sexual activity. He is the third body to be found since the beginning of August. 27 year-old Amber Moore was found on August 2nd and Michael Jones, 36, was found on August 7th. Both had the same injuries, showed signs of intercourse, and were found at construction sites"

"That isn't much of a cooling-off period at all" Alex noted. "They've found something they like and they're going with it"

"Victimology is all over the map though. None of the victims share any obvious characteristics. Were they connected somehow socially?" Half of Sy's attention was focused on hearing Cope's answer to his question, the other part was looking across the table at the agent he'd personally recruited to the unit, watching them as the flipped through the images on their computer, their face impassive.

"Rosewood's a small town, there is so much overlap that it's impossible to differentiate between what matters and what's coincidence without days of study." Cope took a seat as he spoke, grabbing a bottle of water and opening it as he did so.

"Why does the name Rosewood ring a bell?" Paul Williams was the team's Technical Analyst and a fountain of seemingly random trivia that somehow managed to be useful at the strangest of times. He looked at everyone else, hoping someone would be able to articulate what was on the tip of his tongue.

"Back in 2009, 15 year old Alison DiLaurentis went missing during the last weekend in August. She was found just over a year later in her former backyard, buried under a gazebo that had been under construction. She had a blunt force wound to the head, but cause of death was suffocation." Cope pulled up the images of the DiLaurentis crime scene as he spoke, although he too was joining Sy in taking in the reaction of their youngest team member. If they were feeling anything they didn't show it.

"No signs of sexual assault?" Briggs noticed the tension in the room surrounding the three agents but ignored it for now in favor of more information, his mind already starting to put the pieces together in order to create a profile.

"There wasn't enough evidence left on the remains to know for sure, but this video was taken the night she died" Cope played the short recording, the team watching as the pretty girl with the heart-shaped face teased whoever was behind the camera.

"I think it's safe to assume something sexual happened after that" Addy commented, the rest of the room nodding in agreement with her.

"Didn't they arrest someone for that though?" Foster was beginning to recall the case as well, but her mind wasn't able to remember all the details. With all the cases she had been a part of, her murder index was a bit muddled. Before Cope could answer, the focus of both his and Sy's attention chimed in.

"They arrested a local teen by the name of Toby Cavanaugh soon after the body was found but the case feel apart before it could go to trial. In June of '11 the police shot and killed Mona Vanderwaal after she took another student hostage at Rosewood High School. When they searched her home they found a shrine to Alison, a burnt book they assumed to be Alison's missing diary, and various things she had used to stalk the hostage and three other girls who had all been Alison's friends. Local LEOs figured Mona had killed Alison in a jealous rage and then for some reason fixated on her former posse."

"So you know the case then" Alex's tone hinted at something else, causing the agent to smile painfully before taking a drink from their latte.

"Know the case?" Aria chuckled bitterly against her cup, shaking her head at the absurdity of the situation then and now. "I was the hostage"

_"Mona, you just need to calm down and think about what you are doing. What good is it going to do you or Alison if you're locked up for murder? Hmmm?" Aria's heart beat painfully within her chest, her lungs struggling to bring in air fast enough. Ignoring her, Mona continued to pace in front of Mr. Fitz's desk, the fist clutching the large hunting knife tightening and relaxing in a rhythm only she knew. Aria wasn't stupid, she knew the chances of getting though to this obviously disturbed girl were slim, but she also knew that the rope tied around her hands wasn't going to come loose anytime soon. Her best bet was to keep Mona talking while the police or whoever was outside figured out a way to save her. They'd been in there for almost an hour now, that was surely more than enough time for a plan to be formed._

_She watched Mona as she seemed to be having a conversation with herself, a sign to Aria that she had well and truly gone round the bend. The way she kept glancing over to stare at her hostage with crazed eyes scared Aria more then she cared to admit, and every time the knife moved her breath caught in her throat. When Mona finally stopped her pacing Aria hoped it was because she had realized how wrong what she was doing was, but one look at Mona's face told her otherwise._

_"It's either kill or be killed in this world my darlings, and you all are just jumping at the chance to get me, aren't you?" Aria wasn't sure what was more terrifying, the way Mona was trying to sound like Ali or the fact that Mona was clearly hallucinating. Regardless, as Mona drew nearer, Aria began to struggle harder, a constant rambling of pleads for her life falling from her lips. As she watched Mona bring the knife up, she began to sob, images of her family and friends and Ezra flashing in her mind. She didn't want her life to end like this, not with so many things left unsaid and undone. As Mona prepared to strike she tilted her head to the side to take one last look at her victim, a sad sigh and a shake of the head escaping before she spoke. "It's such a pity though, we made you into such a pretty little liar."_

_The knife seemed to come down upon her in slow motion, so slow in fact that Aria could have sworn it was minutes rather than seconds before she felt the cold metal on her skin. Her eyes had closed out of reflex, but they flew open again when she heard the sound of glass breaking and felt a warm spray hit her face. As she looked out in front of her she was confused by the lack of Mona, but then her eyes fell to the floor and her absence made sense._

_It would take Aria a long time to get Mona's lifeless eyes out of her head._

_

* * *

_

_**Looks like Special Agent Montgomery is heading back to Rosewood, but do you think she should go in guns blazing or sneak into town where everyone is none the wiser to her FBI agent career?**_

_**For a look at the team and to sneak a peek at what being Special Agent Montgomery has done to Aria's style, head over to my profile.  
**_


End file.
